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2. Eivind

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EIVIND

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I smelled something in my territory that set my hackles on edge. My wolf surged inside me, demanding his freedom. Eager to hunt. Ready to feast.

But I was no cub. I could usually control my beast to a point. As long as I truly didn't feel threatened, I could keep from shifting. Though if the Aima queen that I smelled so much as thought about collaring me...

I'd rip her fucking throat out.

I followed the faint, tantalizing scent through the busy streets of Chicago. A group of humans stood on the corner. Their leader, a young man maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, lifted up his sweatshirt to show me his weapon. So I showed him mine.

Just a hint of teeth. The feral light in my eyes. The snarl that rumbled deep in my chest.

The group of young men quickly crossed the street.

My nose led me to a narrow garbage-lined alley that smelled so badly of rotten food and human waste that it took me a few moments to find her. I ended up using my hearing as well as my nose, though her heartbeat was so faint and erratic that even my wolf sense—that could pick up an elk munching on a sapling miles away—could barely hear it. It took an unbelievable amount of injury to put one of our kind this close to death's door, but I still kept my beast poised inside me, ready to attack.

I tossed aside several bags and layers of refuse to finally uncover her nude, battered body. Someone had thrown her out literally with trash. A queen, descended from a goddess. It was unheard of. Who had such power? Who had managed to nearly kill her? She didn't look young enough to be a fledgling, though with the dirt and grime streaked on her body, it was hard to tell her exact age.

Braced for her to leap up for my throat, I waited a few moments, watching for any sign of life. But she didn't even open her eyes. Her pulse fluttered weakly. A candle almost blown out.

I knew what she needed.

Goddess help me. I refused to be bound.

I couldn't do it.

If she were someone from my house, perhaps I'd have been able to give her my blood. But a complete stranger? There was no telling what kind of horrors she could commit once she revived. It would probably be a blessing to let her lie here and quietly pass to the Great Mother, may She have mercy on my soul for letting one of Her children die.

:Eivind.: My sister, Helayna, chided in my head gently. :House Ironheart has more honor than this.:

:I won't be bound,: I snarled in our blood bond. :Not by anyone. Ever.:

:You were lead to her for a reason.:

I ground my jaws, refusing to say anything. I didn't buy into the hocus pocus divine shit. I couldn't. Not when I'd seen exactly what my fate would be at any queen's hands.

:Not every queen will be like our mother,: Helayna continued. :And we need every queen. Desperately. You know what I saw.:

My sister had been kidnapped to Hvergelmir at Yggdrasil's base by Loki himself. Sacrificed to J?rmungandr, she'd been bound in agony as the massive snake devoured her power. While fighting her way back to our realm, she'd seen the dark, rotted branches of the World Tree. Paths to alternative realms and worlds...

Dead.

The goddesses' daughters tended the Tree with their blood and power. As our kind died...so did Yggdrasil. If the great tree died, Ragnar?k would come. J?rmungandr would be freed to destroy everything in his path.

I had to admit that I didn't give a rat's ass for most of the world. I ran alone, except for my pack of wolves that waited for me in the woods outside the sprawling city. Let the sun god burn the world for all I cared. Let the giant snake rot Yggdrasil's roots. I honestly didn't fucking care. The world was filled with garbage humans, just as this alley was filled with bags of trash. As long as my sister lived with whoever she held dear beside her, then the rest of the world could slide into eternal darkness. Burst into flame. Disintegrate into nothing.

I didn't. Fucking. Care.

She didn't say anything further in our bond, but my beloved sister didn't have to say a word. I felt her disapproval. Her... disappointment. Goddess help me, I'd cut off my own nose to spite my face, but I'd rather be skinned alive than let her down.

There were more ways than one to help this unknown queen. Ways that would keep me free and out of her control. Keeping a wary eye on the injured queen, I shrugged the strap of my knapsack off my shoulder and dug around inside the bag for the evillest contraption ever invented by mankind.

The cellphone.

Mine was at least a decade old but anytime I entered the city, I made sure to charge the damned thing. Just in case. You never knew when you'd need to call an old friend.

Or polite enemy, in this case.

Detective Harris answered my call with a growled, "Well, well, well. Hello, Wild Man."

I didn't let his nickname get under my skin. "Good to hear your sweet voice, Harris."

He let out a disgusted grunt. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Oh, nothing. Just thought I'd let my friendly neighborhood cop know that there's a body in the alley just south of the intersection of Noble and Terra. She's still alive, but I don't know for how much longer."

"She bleeding out? I'm only a few minutes away but I'll put an alert out?—"

Involuntarily, I shuddered slightly, every nerve in my body screaming and dancing in ecstasy at the thought of what this queen's blood would smell like. "No," I retorted. "No blood. I don't see an actual injury, but her life signs are faint."

"How'd you find her?"

"Oh, you know, just doing my job." If he was actually close, then I needed to book it in the opposite direction. Harris was a good guy. For a cop. But he sure didn't like the work I did. Not that I could blame him. He'd hauled my ass in before just because he could.

I glanced down at the unknown queen, reluctant to leave her until help arrived. Even though I had no intention of staying with her, let alone giving her blood. Dark circles ringed her eyes. A dark mark on her cheek could be dirt. Or a bruise. I was tempted to bend down and rub carefully at that mark to see. If someone had hurt her...

But who could hurt a queen?

Helayna had been hurt. Maybe that was why I felt such an affinity for this queen. Why I didn't want to leave her alone and helpless. What would have become of my sister if her Blood had decided it wasn't any of their business?

My wolf snarled in my head as I turned sharply and trotted out of the alley. Sure, I wanted to punish anyone who'd hurt another person and leave them to die in a pile of garbage. But my wolf was angry at me.

For leaving her.

And that scared me more than anything.

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